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Topic: Goat Research (Read 1587 times)

I was approached my a man who is going to start a farm and he wants to know if I would come to his farm and make cheese for him. He wants to have goats, and organic vegetables, and he is building a creamery and a cheese cave on his property for me to make the cheese in. He says that he has worked on a dairy farm with cows, so he knows something, but he wants to get goats to start with. He may get a cow later on. He only asked me if I would come run his creamery so I will let him deal with his goats, I am researching milk and cheese like I told him I would do.

I would like to ask a few general questions here

On average, about how much milk do you get from a goat in a day? I am assuming milking every 12 hours so that's twice in a day.

Can you make any cheese from goat's milk? I've seen recipes for goat milk cheddar, gouda, and Swiss but I read somewhere that it doesn't make a firm curd and is better for soft cheeses. So I'm asking here to find out the truth. I only make hard cheeses, because that's what I buy at the store. Since I see goat milk Swiss and goat milk Gouda I know it can be made, but is it very different?

Goat milk here is $7a quart, so I'm not going to be able to experiment a lot, right now. I buy raw cows milk for $7 a gallon for my cheese right now.

I found a lot of cooking recipes that call for goat's milk but they don't say what style of cheese it is. I'm thinking that they are probably referring to chevre, is that correct? I went to a restaurant yesterday and had some fried cheese that they said was goat's milk cheese but that's all anyone ever tells you. It was a soft cheese, rolled into a little log, and battered and fried with a little honey drizzled over the top. It was delicious.

I was going to figure out how much milk I think I can deal with, and still keep my job, so that he would not go out and over invest in goats when he first starts out. He can always buy more after he gets used to tending to them and milking them.

He doesn't have the farm built yet, he just owns the property. He has to do a lot of work before we will actually be out buying goats, and we have to read a lot of stuff about goats.

Me, I have to read a lot of stuff about setting up and running a creamery. I'm all excited. He's spending money, I'm making cheese. I recipes to perfect.

Most dairy lines milk at least a gallon a day (8lbs) This is for the average yearly lactation of 10 months. My girls average 16lbs after their first year. It really makes a difference with bloodlines. A backyard goat can milk any where from a quart or more but they will eat almost the same amount as the heavy miking goats. So, if your goal is milk production you should invest in good milk lines.

You can make hard cheese and soft from the milk. I tend to like the hard cheeses better.

Most dairy lines milk at least a gallon a day (8lbs) This is for the average yearly lactation of 10 months. My girls average 16lbs after their first year. It really makes a difference with bloodlines. A backyard goat can milk any where from a quart or more but they will eat almost the same amount as the heavy miking goats. So, if your goal is milk production you should invest in good milk lines.

You can make hard cheese and soft from the milk. I tend to like the hard cheeses better.

Thanks for the information. It's probably going to end up just being information but I love to learn new things. I've been looking at the goats on Province Hill Farm and reading her posts. I've enjoyed it.

I have made Gouda's from raw goat milk, just following the recipe for baby Gouda that I posted on the other forum. I also made Cabra al Vino, which is an other pressed cheese. Like Linuxboy said, the quality of the curd is depending on the solids in the milk. Because the fat in the milk is divided into smaller drops in goat milk (like in homogenized cow milk), some advice to use CaCl like you would do for P/H cowmilk. But when you are busy with pressed goat cheeses, take some time to experiment with softer cheeses, like Valencay. For an experienced person as you easy to make and absolutely worthwhile...

I have experimented with a few different breeds of goats and making cheeses. I have a Saanen doe who gives 2+ gallons a day which is good but there is a lower percentage of butterfat in her milk so the cheese isn't always as good as our Alpine's who give 1 to 1 1/2 gallons a day. I think the Saanens are good for high production if you are a big milk drinker.Nubians are supposed to be the best for cheese as they have the highest butterfat and can be decent producers.. I have mostly Alpines and I love the milk, cheese and their personalities

I have experimented with a few different breeds of goats and making cheeses. I have a Saanen doe who gives 2+ gallons a day which is good but there is a lower percentage of butterfat in her milk so the cheese isn't always as good as our Alpine's who give 1 to 1 1/2 gallons a day. I think the Saanens are good for high production if you are a big milk drinker.Nubians are supposed to be the best for cheese as they have the highest butterfat and can be decent producers.. I have mostly Alpines and I love the milk, cheese and their personalities

Actually, I think it's more accurate to say that the best breeds for making cheese are La Mancha, Nubian or Nigerian Dwarf as far as amount of cheese per gallon of milk.

Tammy, about that business idea of the man with the farm.....has he run any numbers and created a business plan? According to everything I read it is possible to make some income but almost impossible to make a living even if you're not paying any wages to workers so it's not something to take on lightly. I'm not sure what type of hours and wages you'd be wanting but it's hard to imagine him making a go of it unless he won the lottery recently or has a lot of funding from elsewhere. The expense of the setting up is huge in order to be legally selling what you produce if you'd be doing any volume. Some folks think that one of the cheapest ways to set up a cheese room is to get a food production approved concession trailer to use. Craig's List seems to have them regularly and some places make trailers specifically for cheese. keep us posted. All my cheese is goat cheese.